Um Sat was regarding his companions with a kind of strange sadness, trying not to go near them. He made a sign to Smel Ven and climbed up into the rocket. The First Pilot of Quest found the scientist already lying on the couch in the common cabin. His cheeks were hollow and the pouches under his eyes were even more pronounced.
Smel Ven stopped a short distance away. His narrow face with the big bald patches on his head looked even longer because of the straggly little goatee beard.
"I feel a great weakness," said the Elder. "I have no headache or rash. It might pass off. Let the Sister of Health stay with me; the rest can carry on with their work. However, I still consider it my duty to hand over the leadership of the expedition to you, as the ship's commander."
"So be it," declared Smel Ven solemnly, drawing himself up as if on parade. "I assume all the authority! Henceforth, I shall be in charge of everything. And I order you, my aged friend, to lie down. You know where the provisions are. I forbid all subordinates to come near the rocket."
"Even the Sister of Health?" asked Um Sat quietly.
"Even her," snapped Smel Ven. "She will be useful to the others if they fall ill as well."
Um Sat laughed weakly but said nothing.
"I am leaving now," Smel Ven hastened to say.
"I am replacing you," said the old man after him, but the hatch had already slammed shut.
Um Sat wearily closed his eyes. When would he stop making mistakes? Why ever did they think him wise?
Smel Ven assembled all the astronauts.
"Um Sat has ordered me to inform you that the camp is being transferred from the rocket into the forest. As it will be hard for the old man to spend the night there, he has delegated the leadership of the camp to me as his deputy."
"But the forest's dangerous at night," commented Toni Fae.
Smel Ven looked at him contemptuously.
"I don't know who is more graced with cowardice: the astronomer or the poet."
Toni Fae flushed. Gor Terr interceded on his behalf.
"Caution is useful, even in a leader."
"What risk can there be," said Smel Ven aggressively, "if we've come to a world of love and harmony?" And he turned to Mada and Ave.
"Who's threatening us?" said Mada, backing him up.
Ave nodded silently.
The explorers collected up everything they needed, armed themselves at Gor Terr's insistence with pistols, though loaded only with stun bullets harmless to animal life, and set off into the forest.
Mada urgently wanted to see Um Sat, but Smel Ven refused to let her; he was anxious to get into the forest before darkness fell.
They pitched camp on the shore of the lake from which the stream fell into the chasm. White birds with curved necks were swimming on rippling water that was tinged with mother-of-pearl.
"Why do they have such long necks?" asked Toni Fae.
"To fetch up underwater weeds," replied Mada.
"A very peaceful occupation," commented Gor Terr.
The evening glow was already flickering in the sky when Smel Ven sent Mada and Ave to survey the other shore of the lake. They had to make their way across the stream, jumping from rock to rock.
They walked on, occasionally stooping under low branches, dressed in their clinging black suits and delightedly looking about them. Suddenly, they both stopped in their tracks.
A reindeer, its antlered head flung back, raced past in front of them. A powerful beast with a spotted hide was following it in great soft bounds. It overtook the reindeer and pounced on its neck. The victim, its artery bitten through, made a last desperate bound and collapsed under a tree. There was a bellowing sound. The beast was tearing its prey to pieces.
Ave snatched at his pistol to reload it with poisoned bullets.
"We daren't take lives here," intervened Mada. "We mustn't bring Faena's morals with us."
"I'm afraid they already exist here."
"But why?"
"The laws of life's development on the planets are exactly the same."
"But what about the watering place?" protested Mada weakly. "None of them attacked any of the others there."
"A beast of prey can't just slaughter animals. It lets them live, drink, propagate and grow. Otherwise it won't have anything to eat. It's like a forest animal-breeder: by catching the weakest when out hunting, it improves the selection of the herd."
Mada made no objection. She walked along at Ave's side, dejected, conscious of his hand on her shoulder. But suddenly he snatched it away and slapped his forehead. Mada involuntarily did the same. Then she stared in bewilderment at her fingers, which were stained with blood. It had become dark in the forest and there was a buzzing noise everywhere. Tiny flying creatures swooped on the Faetians and began stinging them. Ave and Mada had to pluck branches and beat the flies off.
They found Smel Ven alone in the camp. He was frantically slapping his cheeks and neck.
"Filthy creatures!" he swore. "We'd be better off in our space-suits."
"I was terribly wrong," began Mada at once. "Ave and I have just seen murder in the forest. Murder is committed here as on Faena! We must move the camp back to the rocket as soon as possible, to open ground where there aren't any insects or beasts of prey."
"We're not going back to the rocket," snapped Smel Ven. "There's a far more terrible death in store for us there-the one that was lying in wait for Um Sat."
"What d'you mean?" Mada was outraged. "And you. Dm Saf's deputy, wouldn't allow me, as a doctor, to be with him?"
"Such was his will. It's not just filthy flying creatures or spotted predators, but the hidden microworld that's bared its teeth at us."
"I'm going to Um Sat!" declared Mada.
"With me," added Ave.
"Only cowards who've found a pretext escape by running away!" shouted Smel Ven after them, forgetting his own false warning.
Mada ran ahead. Ave could hardly see her outline in the swiftly approaching darkness. Suddenly, his heart contracted with pain. It seemed to him that Mada had been stopped by a gigantic round-shouldered creature with long, dangling arms. He drew his pistol, which he still hadn't loaded with live ammunition, but noticed that Mada was not in the least afraid. Ave gasped with relief. That showed how badly his nerves had been set on edge by the forest episode! He hadn't recognized Gor Terr. And now the puny Toni Fae also turned up.
Ave put his pistol away and only then did he see at least five figures like Gor Terr with him. The Faetoids knocked Toni Fae and the frantically resisting Mada off their feet. The whole gang of them charged at Gor Terr.
Ave dashed towards Gor Terr, but couldn't tell him from among the similar round-shouldered, shaggy beasts. They sorted themselves out and all five of them hurled themselves on Ave.
He hadn't time to draw his pistol. He merely shook off the assailants clinging to him. They were bigger than Ave, but had no idea how to fight. Using his fists and his feet, Ave scattered the beasts as they fell on him. Two of them writhed under a tree, the others flung themselves at Ave again. Throwing over his shoulder one who stank of sweat and mud, he glimpsed Gor Terr dealing with his opponents. Several shaggy carcasses were squirming at his feet. But still more of the enemy were tumbling down onto his shoulders from the trees. Ave tried to shout that he should run to open ground, but a shaggy paw clamped itself over his face. Ave twisted the paw till the bones cracked.
Mada was nowhere to be seen. Nor was Toni Fae. Only Gor Terr and Ave Mar continued the unequal struggle.
"Hold out, Ave!" shouted Gor Terr. "These are all of one local family!"
Ave flung aside the first assailants, but at least a dozen fresh ones leapt on him. Four taloned paws fastened on to each of his hands and feet.
The young Faetian summoned up all his strength, heaved and crashed to the ground, crushing his enemies underneath him. More shaggy beasts leapt onto the pile of weltering bodies. He felt as if he had been buried in a mine shaft: he could neither move nor breathe.
On seeing Ave's predicament, Gor Terr rushed to help him. But it would have probably been easier to fell with one shoulder the wide-spreading tree under which the scrum had taken place than to come to Ave's assistance. Then Gor Terr made a sudden leap and grabbed hold of a low branch. Two or three of the Faetoids, no shorter in stature than he was himself, hung onto his legs. The bough bent, threatening to crack. With an incredible burst of strength, Gor Terr hoisted himself up onto the bough with all the animals clinging to him. They dived head-downwards off it, howling frantically. Two more seemed to be waiting above Gor Terr, but were thrown down.
With an agility denied to his shaggy opponents, Gor Terr literally soared up to the topmost branches of the tree.
Despairing shrieks and roars came from below.
Gor Terr jumped down from the topmost branch and, it seemed, ought to have crashed into the paws of the beasts galloping in a frenzy round it, but by some miracle he seized hold of a branch on a neighbouring tree and ran lightly along it, although it bent under his considerable weight.
A way had been found, the only escape from the bellowing herd below.
Gor Terr couldn't understand why none of the fanged beasts had bitten him. There was no time to think about it, and he continued running along the upper branches. He might well have been envied by his remote ancestors, who had come down from the trees of Faena once upon a time.
His pursuers, however, were running along below every bit as fast as he was himself.
At this point, Gor Terr saw something like a Faetian liana. It hung down from a distant, very high tree and was caught on one of the branches near him. Gor Terr seized hold of the living cable and flew downwards. He had a glimpse of the infuriated herd. Gathering speed like a swinging pendulum, he sailed over his pursuers' heads and managed to kick the biggest of them. He was followed by a despairing wail.
Gor Terr caught sight of a waterfall below him. The liana carried him across to the other bank. He clutched at a branch, jumped down to the ground and started running.
The shouts of pursuit died down far behind him. The Faetoids were evidently afraid of water and could not cross to the other side of the river after him.
Gor Terr slowed down and breathed heavily, inflating his chest, and only then did he discover that in his confusion he had forgotten to bring his pistol from the camp, although he had been the one to insist that everybody should be armed.
He was overcome with horror. There was no one left now, except himself. He must hurry back to the rocket, but his news of what had happened to all the Faetians would be the death of Urn Sat.
He had no alternative, however. He decided to wait until dawn, believing that the Faetoids were nocturnal and feared the daylight.
He climbed a tree and settled himself on the topmost branch.
As he pictured his friends torn to pieces, he wept with grief and helplessness. The tears stuck in his beard, which was as matted as the hair of a Faetoid. At times, his reason was clouded with frenzy. Suddenly, in the pale glimmer of dawn, he saw one of the abominable creatures slowly coming along under the tree.
Round-shouldered, almost the same height, it was rolling from side to side at every step. Its back was covered with wool. The beast turned round, and Gor Terr realized that it was a female Faetoid. She was walking erect, and her forepaws dangled down to her knees. From time to time, she stooped to pluck a plant or grub up a root.
Gor Terr shook with fury, making ready to pounce on the beast and deal with her.
At that moment, something flashed past below and the Faetoid fell to the ground. She was being suffocated by the spotted animal that Mada had told him about.
Himself not knowing why, Gor Terr jumped down on the predator. The animal roared, trying to struggle free of the weight that had landed on its back. But Gor Terr jumped off and gripped it by the hind legs. The human giant pulled the beast towards him, raised it into the air on his outstretched hands and dashed its head against a tree-trunk, then flung the inert body to one side.
The Faetoid rose to her feet and stared at Gor Terr with curiosity rather than in fear. He even took offence.
"Am I really so like her fellow-creatures that I didn't even frighten her?"
She approached him trustingly and said, "Dzin!"
Yes, that was what she said! These animals could pronounce articulate words. If they were not wholly rational, then in a million or more cycles they could become like the rational Faetians.
"Gor," said the Faetian, pointing at his naked, hairy chest. His shirt had been ripped down to the waist.
"Dzin," repeated the Faetoid, and she pointed at herself.
It would be hard to say what thought process was taking place in the low-browed, sloping skull. However, she too was capable of the gratitude innate in many Faetian animals.
Dzin had obviously been overtaken by some kind of thought. She clutched Gor Terr by the hand and pulled him along, gibbering incoherently.
Was she taking him to her lair, acknowledging him not only as her saviour, but as her master?
Gor Terr frowned. He wanted to shoo her away and even raised his hand. But she waited for the blow so meekly that he thought better of hitting her. It occurred to him that she might lead him to the dwelling of her fellow-creatures. What if his friends were still alive? Could he miss a chance of going to their assistance? He pushed her forward and went after her.
Dzin was overjoyed and ran off, looking round at Gor Terr. Both moved fast and soon crossed the same stream. She knew where a tree lay across it. Dzin was afraid of water.
Then they walked through the Faetian camp on the shore of the lake. Gor Terr could see the traces of a violent struggle. Bags and scientific instruments lay scattered all round, but the victims of the struggle were nowhere to be seen. Smel Ven had evidently not been able to use his weapon and had been seized by the beasts.
Dzin looked at Gor Terr, but he prodded her firmly in the back. That was evidently the kind of treatment she understood best. She looked round, bared her fangs in the semblance of a grin and joyfully ran on ahead.
Soon she stopped and made a warning sign, if the movement of her paw meant anything at all.
Gor Terr looked cautiously out from behind a tree growing on the edge of a gully. On the opposite side he could see caves, and down below swarmed a herd of shaggy beasts. He could hear them growling, bellowing and shrieking.
Gor Terr saw Smel Ven among the Faetoid predators. He was standing proudly in their midst, with many of them clutching him. For some reason, they had not yet killed him.
At this point, Gor Terr realized that these creatures could not tie people up, they could only hold the prisoner with their forepaws while standing on their hind legs. But what if they didn't slaughter their victim before devouring him? What if they didn't like dead flesh?
The Faetoids began roaring down below. Smel Ven was hurled to the ground and the shaggy bodies piled on top of him, tearing him to pieces.
It was too much for Gor Terr. He felt sick.
But Smel Ven never uttered a groan or a cry. Gor Terr had never thought it possible to have such superhuman fortitude. He felt ashamed of his own weakness. He was almost about to jump down, but saw Mada, Ave and Toni Fae on the opposite cliff. They had evidently not been slaughtered so that they could be eaten alive. All of them, like Smel Ven, were unbound. But four beasts were holding each by the hands and feet. The Faetians couldn't move an inch.
Gor Terr turned to Dzin. She sprang back and lay on the ground, pretending to have fallen asleep. Then she jumped up, waved her paw towards the beasts who were devouring their victim and again threw herself down on the ground.
The engineer understood. Dzin was trying to explain that they would go to sleep as soon as they had gorged themselves.
Dzin was right. She knew her fellow-creatures well.
They soon lay down in a heap and began snoring.
Only the sentries stayed in their places, pretending to be awake, but actually nodding their shaggy heads.
Gor Terr was not very hopeful of success. Still, he crawled to one side and silently moved across the gully. When he had crawled up to the cave in which the prisoners were lying, he jumped to his feet at the entrance.
Ave Mar was lying nearest to him with a useless pistol at his side.
Before the flesh-glutted sentries could make a move, Gor Terr proceeded to dispatch them by methods ordered by Yar Jupi in schools for the Superiors. He struck with precision in the morning light. The sensitive spots of the Faetoids were almost the same as those of the Faetians. The shaggy beasts rolled over without a sound. Gor Terr snatched up Ave Mar's pistol and fired point-blank at the fourth Faetoid who was still gripping Ave by the hand. It was a stun bullet; the creature fell in convulsions and lay still.
The crash of the explosion terrified the other guards. They let Mada and Toni Fae go free. Mada seized her chance and hit one of them so deftly that he rolled down over the rocks.
Toni Fae had barely recovered his breath when Ave and Gor Terr hurled themselves on the dumbfounded guards.
Gor Terr fired a few more shots. Ave was throwing the feebly resisting beasts down to the bottom of the gully. Indescribable panic broke out down there.
The beasts had no idea of how to put up a fight. They had seized their victims with the sole purpose of eating them. After devouring the first, they had slept peacefully without even mounting a guard. And now-deafening claps of thunder, of which they had always gone in terror. Moreover, the corpses of their fellow-creatures were raining down on them as if from the sky.
The herd scattered, shrieking and abandoning the dead and maimed on the bottom of the gully.
Mada threw herself on Ave Mar's breast and sobbed her heart out.
Toni Fae offered his hand to his friend and saviour.
In the corner of his eye, Ave noticed one more Faetoid at the cave entrance who was evidently intending to attack Gor Terr from behind.
He promptly sprang to the rescue, but Gor Terr's huge arm held him back.
"This is Dzin, a female. She helped me to r-rescue you."
Mada stared in amazement at the shaggy creature, who was not hiding her delight at Gor Terr's strength and fearlessness.